Pirates adds records, sails past $300m

Buena Vista International's(BVI) Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest maintained its unstoppable form as it plundered anestimated $55m from 7,698 sites in 40 countries for $305.5m.

Powered by a huge German debut, the adventure romp became the seventh BVIrelease to cross $300m and has overtaken the 2003 original's $655m global tallyto become the 25th biggest worldwide release in history on $664m.

Furthermore Dead Man's Cheststill has one quarter of the international market to go, and now ranks asDisney's fourth biggest global hit behind Finding Nemo, The Lion King, and The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, And TheWardrobe.

Germany was the most lucrativemarket of the weekend and produced an all-time industry top five debut of$18.8m from 903 screens that doubled the original's opening weekend gross andtripled that of Narnia.

Austria grossed $2.8m from 105 for an all-time industry top three opening,while Belgium generated $2.2m from 125 for an all-time industry top fiveresult, and German-speaking Switzerland produced $1.8m for an all-time topthree.

Dead Man's Chest added $5.9m from761 and fell 31% in its second weekend in Japan and stands at $32.2m. After thesame amount of time Mexico and Brazil stand at $12m and $6.3m respectivelywhile the UK has generated $72.4m after four weekends.

Cars added an estimated $9.8m over the weekend to raise the tally to $112.5m. The result was powered by a number one $5.1m UK debut, a promising start bearing in mind that schools break for summer holidays on Monday. Japan stands at $14.7m.

The picture opened in Russia on $913,000 from 294 prints and was expected tofinish top ahead of Dead Man's Chest.

There are 13 more markets still to open, including Germany and Japan in Augustand Italy in September.

Poseidon added $4m for $114.5m,powered by a $3.4m number one Spanish debut that commanded 40% market share.

Decent holdover business enabled Paramount's animated feature Over The Hedgeto raise the running total by $6.2mfrom 3,682 sites in 48 territories to $120.1m.

The UIP result does includes South Korea or Hong Kong, where it is not handlingthe releases.

Germany produced $1.4m from 652 sites for $14.1m, while France generated$693,000 from 732 for $7.4m, and the UK produced $664,000 from 401 for $20m.Mexico stands at $11m and Brazil has generated $5.5m.

Paramount's Mission: Impossible IIIadded $3.4m from 799 venues for $247.7m. China produced $1.6m from 394 for$6.7m, while Japan produced $1.8m from 333 for $33.7m.

Universal's thriller Miami Vicelaunched day-and-date with North America in three Asian markets through UIP,grossing $1m from 153 sites and opening top in all three.

The picture grossed $420,000 from 58 in Taiwan, $415,000 from 50 sites inThailand, and $200,000 from 45 in Indonesia.

Miami Vice is scheduled to openeverywhere in August and September, and goes out in the UK, Russia and Mexiconext weekend.

The comedy You, Me And Dupreelaunched its international campaign with an excellent $1.9m debut in Australiafrom 211 sites that snatched top spot from Dead Man's Chest.

It also opened in New Zealand and took $185,000 from 40, and rolls out over thenext three months.

Another Universal comedy, The Break-Up, added $3.8m from 1,050 sites in 23 territories for $38.5m. After twoweekends the UK stands at $5.5m.

The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift raised its international tally by $5.2m from 2,500 sites in 39territories for $63.7m. After 45 days in release it has passed the $62m finaltotal of The Fast And The Furious.

The weekend highlight was Italy, where the picture stayed top in its thirdconsecutive weekend and added has amassed $17m.

United 93 grossed $750,0000 from525 in 10 territories and has taken $14.5m from its early days.

Fox International's Garfield: A Tale Of Two Kitties added $6.4m from 2,650 screens for $22.9m, poweredby a $1.6m second place Mexican debut on 671 screens.

The family sequel took $476,000 from 93 in South Korea, $197,000 from 105 inTaiwan, and $102,000 from 34 in Israel, now a diminished market while theconflict rages with Hezbollah.

In a pair of second weekend results Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties added $1.2m from 583 in France for a $3.5m runningtotal, and $1.1m from 336 in the UK for $3.9m.

Sony Pictures Releasing International opened Monster House in its first international market of Hong Kong,where the animated picture grossed $385,000 from 29 screens and ranked thirdbehind two Asian titles.

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